Gamecock Digest

New Gamecocks Baseball Head Coach Paul Mainieri Expects "Greatness" From New Squad

Alex Joyce

South Carolina coach Paul Mainieri Meets his Roster after being hired by the Gamecocks.
South Carolina coach Paul Mainieri Meets his Roster after being hired by the Gamecocks. /

Being able to pull Paul Mainieri out of retirement was a surprise to many when the Gamecocks pulled it off early this summer. The legendary LSU coach wasn't on many people's radar when the coaching search began.

After accepting the job, Paul Mainieri met with reporters to discuss his vision for the Gamecocks Baseball program. Mainieri believed the Gamecocks should expect to compete for championships as early as year one.

Today, Gamecocks Baseball via their X account released a video of Coach Mainieri meeting with his team. He let his new team know just what he expected of them going forward.

"My expectation is not to be good," Coach Mainieri told his team. "If your expectation of yourself is to be good, you're at the wrong place. My expectation is greatness. My expectation is excellence. My expectation is to strive for perfection, knowing that perfection is unattainable. But by striving for perfection, I expect us to obtain excellence."

Coach Mainieri hasn't been shy when talking about his championship expectations for South Carolina. He has made it a point to bring the program back to where it was in the early 2010s.

"I didn't come out of retirement to be mediocre with you guys. I came out of retirement because I wanted to see if we couldn't put together a team that could win a championship again," Coach Mainieri said.

The Gamecocks and Coach Mainieri will have the opportunity to put that expectation to the test in their first home game against Air Force on October 26.

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Alex Joyce

ALEX JOYCE